CHANGES.md - Redline Editorial feature log

One entry per feature: what was added, what was verified.

2026-09-27 - Post H2/H3 chapter treatment

Added

• _sass/_post.scss: every article H2 is now a “chapter” block - a kicker (01, 02, …) in 13px JetBrains Mono, red, letter-spaced, with a 24px hairline rule trailing it, rendered by a CSS ::before using counter(chapter, decimal-leading-zero). The counter is reset on .post-article and incremented per H2, so numbering is automatic and always matches document order. The heading itself moved from Inter 600 to Space Grotesk 600 at cl(1.7rem, 3vw, 1.95rem) with 60px top / 16px bottom margins (40px top at 390px). The old border-top divider is gone.
• H3s: Space Grotesk 500 at 1.3rem with a 16px red tick (::before) before the text. H4+ untouched.
• assets/js/toc.js: removed the JS-injected .h2-no §NN spans - numbering is now pure CSS, so kickers render even without JS. The script still assigns heading ids (unchanged slugs), builds the TOC, strips author hand-numbering (“1. …”), and runs scrollspy. Pseudo-element kickers never enter textContent, so no TOC-text stripping is needed anymore.
• _layouts/post.html: post-foot tag links now point at the /tags/<slug>/ archive pages instead of the removed #slug anchors on /tags/.

Verified

• Rendered the real /ai-agent-architecture-basics/ post (14 H2s, 38 H3s) through the actual post layout: kickers render 01-14 in order; CSS counter order exactly matches TOC H2 order; all 14 heading ids unique and unchanged in form; author “N.” prefixes stripped with no doubling.
• Chromium QA: scrollspy highlights the correct TOC link for H2s 1, 7 and 14; ink theme (cream Space Grotesk on #0E0B0B) and paper theme (ink on #EFE8DC) both legible, kicker stays #FF4D2E; 390px has zero horizontal overflow; zero page JS errors. Before/after screenshots at ~/workspace/blog-redesign/qa-shots/chapter-{before,after}-{ink,paper,390}.png.
• Genuine bundle exec jekyll serve unavailable in this environment (no ruby); full main.scss compiles clean via libsass and toc.js passes node --check.

2026-09-27 - Feature 9: Tag archive pages

Added

• _layouts/tag.html: /tags/<slug>/ archive pages - page-hero with #tag headline, post count, the shared post-card grid, and a back-to-all-tags link.
• post-card.html now accepts an optional card_no include param; the tag layout resolves each post’s global number (oldest = №1) so archive cards show the exact № they carry on /posts/.
• tags.html is now an index: the tag cloud links out to the archive pages (the old inline per-tag anchor blocks were removed as redundant).
• _sass/_pages.scss: .tag-block styles replaced with .back-link.
• ~/workspace/blog-redesign/gen_tag_pages.py (author-time generator, since GitHub Pages safe mode forbids custom plugins): normalizes post front-matter tags (strips stray whitespace, merges the php File Upload/PHP File Upload case duplicate), asserts zero slug collisions, and writes 70 tags/*.md files. Re-run after adding or removing tags.
• Tag hygiene fixed as a side effect: 32 posts had tags with leading/trailing spaces that created near-duplicate tag keys (LFI vs LFI ).

Verified

• Genuine Jekyll unavailable in this environment (no ruby), so verified with the extended QA Liquid renderer: all 96 tag cards across 70 pages carry the exact № from /posts/; /tags/ exposes 70 archive links.
• Chromium QA: /tags/lfi/ renders the hero, 7 cards, back link; ink and paper themes legible; 390px shows no page-level horizontal overflow; zero page errors.

2026-09-27 - Feature 7: Scroll-velocity ticker

Added

• assets/js/ticker.js: takes over the tag marquee with a rAF loop. The strip drifts at its resting speed (~36s loop parity), accelerates up to 5x with scroll speed, and skews up to 10deg into the motion. Pauses on hover (now container-level, matching the original CSS :hover rule). The loop runs only while the ticker intersects the viewport (IntersectionObserver) and re-measures on resize; wrap-around is seamless because the tag list is rendered twice.
• _sass/_chrome.scss: .ticker-track.is-live { animation: none; } hands control to JS. Without JS the original CSS marquee runs unchanged.
• Reduced motion: the script bails before touching the DOM, so the existing CSS kill-switch governs.

Verified

• Chromium QA: rest drift ~80px/500ms; oscillating scroll burst (ticker kept in view) moved 185px/600ms = 1.9x speedup with skew up to 2.07deg reacting live; hover froze the strip at 0.00px/600ms; is-live present normally and absent under emulated prefers-reduced-motion; 390px shows no page-level horizontal overflow; zero page errors.
• Note: scroll speed (magnitude) drives the boost while signed velocity drives the skew, so rapid direction changes still accelerate the strip instead of cancelling out.

2026-09-27 - Feature 6: Cursor context states

Added

• assets/js/cursor.js: two new states. is-copy on .copy-btn (code copy buttons) - 64px red disc with a live “COPY” label; is-type on text inputs and textareas - hides the custom cursor and restores the native I-beam (previously the red dot overlapped the caret in the footer terminal and the palette search box). The label span is now set by JS per state.
• _sass/_chrome.scss: styles for both states; html.has-cursor #cursor.is-type { display: none; } and cursor: text on inputs.

Fixed

• The custom cursor was dead code: nothing ever added has-cursor to <html>, so no visitor had ever seen it. cursor.js now adds the class itself when matchMedia('(pointer: fine)') matches. Touch devices remain unaffected.

Verified

• Chromium QA (desktop-class pointer simulated, since headless reports pointer: none): post card -> is-read 76px “READ”; nav link -> is-link 44px ring; injected .copy-btn -> is-copy 64px “COPY”; footer terminal input -> is-type, #cursor hidden; moving away restores the 10px dot. Touch emulation: no has-cursor, cursor inert. Zero page errors.
• Screenshots: qa-shots/cursor-copy.png, qa-shots/cursor-read.png.

2026-09-27 - Feature 5: View Transitions API (cross-document page wipes)

Added

• _sass/_transitions.scss (imported in main.scss): @view-transition { navigation: auto; } opts every same-origin navigation into a transition. Outgoing page lifts and fades in 0.3s; incoming page cuts in with a hard left-to-right clip-path wipe in 0.55s, both on the theme’s ease-out curve. ::view-transition background matches --bg so mid-transition is never white. Pure CSS progressive enhancement: unsupported browsers ignore the block.
• Reduced motion: _base.scss’s global kill-switch uses *, which does not match view-transition pseudo-elements, so they are neutralized explicitly in the same partial.

Verified

• libsass compiles the partial cleanly (including the reduced-motion override); CSS confirmed live in production (vt-in 0.55s present).
• Chromium 152 QA (same-document VT, same pseudo-element keyframes; the sandbox blocks the browser’s direct network, so cross-document capture was done this way): mid-transition screenshot shows the hard left-to-right wipe with the outgoing page lifting away; finished resolved in 1537ms normal motion vs 333ms under emulated prefers-reduced-motion (keyframes neutralized); zero page errors.
• Screenshots: qa-shots/vt-mid1.png, qa-shots/vt-mid2.png.

2026-09-27 - Feature 3: Footer terminal easter egg

Added

• assets/js/terminal.js: a working fake shell in the footer (visitor@saiprasad:~$). Commands: help, whoami, ls, sudo (“nice try.”), rm* (“this is a static site. there is nothing to delete.”), paranoid (“always.”), hello, clear, exit/quit, vim/emacs/nano (“no.”), plus command not found fallback. Up/down arrows cycle history; output capped at 24 lines; aria-live="polite"; all output built with textContent (XSS-safe).
• _includes/footer.html: terminal block between the link grid and the colophon. Without JS a static visitor@saiprasad:~$ stay paranoid line shows instead.
• _sass/_chrome.scss: theme-token terminal styles; 16px input (no iOS zoom); prompt turns accent on focus-within as the focus indicator.

Verified

• Chromium mirror QA: help/sudo/rm/whoami/unknown/clear all respond correctly; history recall works; <img onerror> payload rendered as inert text (zero img elements); no-JS shows the static fallback; 390px has no horizontal scroll with a 16px input; zero page errors.
• Screenshots: qa-shots/foot-terminal.png, qa-shots/foot-terminal-390.png.

2026-09-27 - Fix: post numbering runs oldest-first

Changed

• _includes/post-card.html: card numerals were forloop.index over the newest-first site.posts, so the newest post was №1 and the oldest №38. Now №39 - the oldest post is №1 and the newest is №38. Computed against the full post count so the homepage (limit 6) and /posts/ agree.

Verified

• Chromium mirror QA: /posts/ shows №38 down to №1, strictly sequential across all 38 cards; homepage shows №38 to №33. Screenshot qa-shots/post-numbering.png.

2026-09-27 - Feature 2: Series reading progress

Added

• assets/js/series.js: localStorage-backed reading progress (redline.series.read.v1 holds completed part numbers; no network, no cookies). Marks .series-step cards read (filled accent marker + “· read” status suffix), updates every [data-series-read-count] and the read-progress bar. Toggle control on series post pages (_layouts/post.html, [data-series-check], hidden until JS runs): “Mark part N complete” <-> “Part N complete - tap to undo”, aria-pressed, persists across reloads. Published count now computed in Liquid (site.data.series | where: "status", "published" | size) - the old site.series_done key never existed, so the live site showed an empty count.
• _includes/series-tracker.html: data-part on each step, .step-read marker, “X / 7 read” line + read bar under the published progress.
• _layouts/home.html: hero meta now shows “N/7 published” and “N/7 read” (both live counts).
• _sass/_home.scss / _sass/_post.scss: read markers, read bar (ink-colored, distinct from the red published bar), and the dashed .series-check control - strictly theme tokens; bar animation covered by the global reduced-motion kill-switch.

Verified

• Chromium mirror QA: fresh load shows “1 / 7 published” (fix confirmed) and “0 / 7 read”; with [1] in storage shows “1 / 7 read”, filled red marker on step 01, “published · read” status, 14.3% read bar; control toggles, untoggles, and persists across reload; zero page errors.
• 390px: no horizontal scroll; hero meta wraps to 4 clean items.
• Ink + paper themes legible; reduced-motion emulation clean.
• Screenshots: qa-shots/series-tracker-read.png, qa-shots/series-check-done.png, qa-shots/series-390.png.
• Local-mirror LCP median 328ms over three runs vs 276ms pre-feature - within run-to-run noise, no meaningful regression (deferred 2.7KB script).

2026-09-27 - Diagram recolor (final): cream/red per user decision

Changed

• Re-applied the cream/red diagram recolor (supersedes the 2026-09-27 revert that had restored terminal green). Diagrams now use strictly the site palette: near-black #0E0B0B panels, 1px cream #EFE8DC strokes/labels, red #FF4D2E entry nodes and danger boundaries, red dashed gates, amber kept only on warn-level trust markers. table.spec-table headers back to site red.
• Green #4ADE80 is no longer used anywhere on the site (verified: zero matches in _sass/, _includes/, _data/).

Verified

• Diagram SCSS compiles clean (libsass); zero 4ade80 references in output CSS.
• Rendered the agent-loop diagram in Chromium: red entry node, cream edges and labels, amber-free in this diagram; screenshot qa-shots/diagram-recolor.png.

2026-09-27 - Feature 1: Terminal command palette

Added

• search.json (repo root): build-time Liquid index of all posts - title, url, tags, excerpt, body (stripped/truncated). No Jekyll plugins. sitemap: false.
• search.md (/search/): no-JS fallback page - static full post index with a plain GET form; client-side filtering + ?q= support when JS is present.
• _includes/palette.html: terminal-styled role="dialog" palette (accent > prompt, mono input, esc kbd hint, aria-activedescendant results).
• assets/js/palette.js: lazy index fetch (first open only); ranking title(10) > tags(6) > excerpt(3) > body(1) with title word-prefix bonus; ↑/↓/↵/esc keyboard nav; Cmd/Ctrl+K toggle; backdrop-click close; focus restore; body scroll lock while open. XSS-safe DOM construction (textContent).
• _sass/_palette.scss: strictly theme tokens (--bg-raise, --line, --ink, --accent, --font-mono, --radius); legible in ink and paper; no palette-specific animation (covered by the global reduced-motion kill-switch).
• Header: >_ search trigger (plain link to /search/ without JS; opens the palette with JS). Mobile ≤640px: trigger collapses to >_ and nav gap 20px -> 16px so the 5th nav item fits at 390px.

Verified

• Ranking unit tests (Node, 7 cases): title match outranks body-only 15:1; tag/excerpt/body matches; multi-token; prefix; empty query. All pass.
• search.json Liquid renders valid JSON (python-liquid mock render, incl. quoted titles, null tags, truncated bodies).
• Full main.scss compiles (libsass); palette styles present in output.
• Chromium mirror QA (file://, live HTML + real fonts): palette opens via click and Cmd+K; query agent returns ranked results; Enter navigates; esc/backdrop/Cmd+K close; focus restored; aria-activedescendant follows arrow keys; zero console/page errors.
• Screenshots: header trigger, results (ink), results (paper), mobile 390px (no horizontal page scroll; palette usable).
• LCP before/after (local mirror, 1440px, 3 runs each): 208ms / 208ms median. No regression - the index is lazy-fetched and the script is deferred.
• Regression: preloader/cursor/ticker/series-scroll includes untouched; mobile header overflow caused by the 5th nav item found and fixed.
• Not verifiable locally: bundle exec jekyll serve (apt locked, no Ruby) - will confirm via the GitHub Pages build after push.

2026-09-27 - Feature 1 follow-up: palette device-compatibility pass

Fixed

• The palette’s input row was hidden under the fixed header on phones and short landscape viewports. Backdrop top padding now always clears the header: max(12vh, 96px) desktop, max(8vh, 160px) under 640px.
• Mobile search trigger was a 17x26px tap target. Now 45x42px via padding with compensating negative margin - no nav layout shift at 320px.
• Escape now closes the palette document-wide (previously only when the input had focus).
• Touch devices: decorative esc pill hidden; kbd hint swapped for “tap a result to open - tap outside to dismiss” via (hover: none) and (pointer: coarse).

Verified

• 9-device Chromium sweep (320/360/390/428px phones, 844x390 landscape, 768/834px tablets, 1024px laptop, 1440px desktop): no horizontal page scroll; trigger visible; palette opens (tap / Cmd+K); dialog fits; input 16px (no iOS auto-zoom); query agent returns 5 ranked results; tap result opens link; esc/backdrop close; ink + paper themes legible.
• /search/ page at 390px and 1440px: 38 items, live filter (“5 of 38 posts”), no horizontal scroll, 16px input.
• Screenshots: palette open with results at 390px (input row visible, touch hint shown), /search/ at 390px.
• LCP (local mirror, 1440px, 5 runs): 276ms median post-fix vs 436ms pre-fix median - no regression (high run-to-run variance both ways).
• Zero console/page errors attributable to the palette on any device.
• Pushed via Git Data API as remote fdd43c2b; verified live in production CSS/JS/HTML.